Why did the man cross the road?

[mugge]

I was standing near a busy pedestrian crossing for quite awhile hoping to 'catch' something unusual. C&C most welcome.

Why did the man cross the road? by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Donald]

It's a pity that his head and hat are located in the busiest part of the frame, with all that's happening in the background. I wonder what's above that and if you had taken a different position (kneeling or crouched down) and put his head above that action, whether they (his head and hat) would stand out more.

I love the idea of the picture.

[Shadowman]

Nicely processed.

[mugge]

I am 1.91m tall and I took the image about chest high. I had time for two exposures only.

[escape]

Interesting subject.

[xpatUSA]

Good exposure and focus! I love the hat, Ole.

Current Aussie fashion? I'm reminded of the 'Miss Fisher' and 'Dr Blake' series albeit different eras.

[Manfred M]

Ole - I quite agree with what Donald has written. There are so many distractions in the background that the viewer loses the impact of the most important part of the subject; his head. The one trend I see in much of your recent work is that you are so busy concentrating on the subject, that you miss what is happening elsewhere in the scene. Getting the background right is every bit as important as nailing the subject when it comes to creating a strong image.

I'm generally not a fan of shots of people from the back, unless you take advantage of where they are looking to tell the story. I suspect that had you taken this shot in horizontal / landscape orientation, you might have had a stronger image. The direction that the man's head is pointing is directing the viewer in the direction of the truck on the other side of the street. Had more of that appeared in the frame, the image could have been stronger.

[FootLoose]

Good shot, Ole. I guess fashion must be very different in the northern hemisphere since no-one has commented on that suit - and that is the main interest in this shot.

It's a pity about the truck because the head aligns with the other two round objects (the wheels). If you had taken this 2 secs later the truck would have been clear of the guy, if not the frame, and you wouldn't have the blur at the rear slicing through the pedestrians. I also think you might have cropped the frame a bit tight on the left.

But apart from that, this is an interesting street portrait - that suit (probably from Lowes ;-) ), the empty bags and the way the man is standing tell a lot about him.

[mugge]

Good shot, Ole. I guess fashion must be very different in the northern hemisphere since no-one has commented on that suit - and that is the main interest in this shot.

It's a pity about the truck because the head aligns with the other two round objects (the wheels). If you had taken this 2 secs later the truck would have been clear of the guy, if not the frame, and you wouldn't have the blur at the rear slicing through the pedestrians. I also think you might have cropped the frame a bit tight on the left.

But apart from that, this is an interesting street portrait - that suit (probably from Lowes ;-) ), the empty bags and the way the man is standing tell a lot about him.

Glad you picked up on that. It is about the suit and the bags and the way the man is standing - never mind!

[xpatUSA]

Footloose wrote: I guess fashion must be very different in the northern hemisphere since no-one has commented on that suit

Mugge wrote: Glad you picked up on that. It is about the suit and the bags and the way the man is standing - never mind!

I commented on the hat in #6 and asked a question because the truck is driving on the left and because Ole is from Oz ...